


turnip prices? (animal crossing: new lovers)

by carpesoo



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Animal Crossing References, College!AU, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:13:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24513646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carpesoo/pseuds/carpesoo
Summary: Kyungsoo’s ‘nip prices brings all the boys—well, one boy—to the island.(AKA a 7k+ essay on why you should play Animal Crossing: New Horizons.)
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai
Comments: 40
Kudos: 167
Collections: The GraduaXion





	turnip prices? (animal crossing: new lovers)

Kyungsoo can’t quite believe his eyes.

Neither can his two best friends—and housemates—Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

“Why is Kim Jongin, _the_ Kim Jongin DMing you?” Baekhyun asks. It’s not even the first—or even the second time—Baekhyun had posed the question.

Kyungsoo doesn’t blame him, though. It's the very question on each of their minds since Kyungsoo had summoned them to rush over to his bedroom fifteen seconds earlier.

“Don’t leave him hanging—reply to him!” Chanyeol says. He makes a pass for the laptop but is tackled by Baekhyun before his giant hands reach the keyboard.

Baekhyun is the best friend everyone needs in their life.

“Hurry, Kyungsoo! I don’t know how much longer I can hold him back!” Baekhyun tells him.

Kyungsoo can hear his friend, but he can’t _see_ him. Baekhyun’s face is buried somewhere within the entanglement of flailing limbs.

Kyungsoo tries his best to filter out the grunting sounds coming from a few feet away—it’s not easy. With trembling fingers, he replies to Jongin’s “hey” with a “hey” of his own.

And he waits.

And waits.

He’s been staring at his phone screen for the past five minutes but has yet to receive a reply.

“Have you heard back from him?” Baekhyun asks with a Chanyeol still wrapped around his waist.

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “No, not yet. Maybe it was an accident and he didn’t mean to message me.” Kyungsoo leans back in his chair, phone still in hand. He’s about to lose all hope when his phone vibrates. Kyungsoo quickly opens the Twitter app and his heart races when he spots the blue circle in the top right hand corner of his inbox icon.

He opens his DMs and reads the newest message received.

“Is it him? Did he reply?” Baekhyun asks. He finally manages to peel Chanyeol’s legs from his body and rushes to Kyungsoo’s side. “What did he say?”

Kyungsoo shows Baekhyun the direct message. “He wants a Dodo code to sell his turnips.”

“Kim Jongin plays Animal Crossing? Didn’t expect that,” Chanyeol says from the floor, his limbs sprawled out on the carpet. Kyungsoo doesn’t tell him he hasn’t vacuumed in the last several months—he’s been far too busy cramming for finals. And he knows for a fact his housemates haven’t either. If Kyungsoo isn’t the one making sure the house is in order, then it’ll be left in disarray.

“I mean, it’s not like we can do much else,” Baekhyun points out.

A few hours earlier, Kyungsoo had tweeted out to his eleven Twitter followers that turnips were selling on his Animal Crossing island for a whopping 613 bells (the in-game’s currency) each. He’d heard of people encountering high sell prices of 600+ but dismissed the stories as urban legends.

He thought the rumours were being spread by the people over at Nintendo to trick people into holding onto their turnips for a larger profit margin, only to miss out on the highest selling price of the week. Thus resulting in players having no alternative but to accept a smaller profit yield, which in turn, would ultimately force people to continue playing the game to earn the required bells to pay off the debt owed to Tom Nook for their home expansions. cg

When Kyungsoo had voiced his opinion, that everything is driven by capitalism, Baekhyun and Chanyeol had labelled him a conspiracy nutjob. Well... Kyungsoo supposes they had been correct.

Like the stock market, players could buy turnips and sell for a higher price. Each Sunday morning, Daisy Mae (an NPC) visits the island and offers to sell turnips to players. Prices can range from anywhere between 90-110 bells and would then be sold later at the in-game shop—Nook’s Cranny. The store would purchase a player’s turnips for different prices, changing twice a day: in the AM and the PM. Players had a limited time and couldn’t stockpile them indefinitely—they only had until Saturday night to sell them or else they would become worthless. Not to mention, if players were to time travel backwards—even for a second—it would also cause them to spoil immediately.

It was worth the trouble, mind you. The stalk market is the most lucrative way in the game to earn some bells. Sure, you could try to catch yourself a Coelacanth on rainy days and sell it for 15k bells (or if you’re lucky you could wait for another NPC, C.J., to visit, and net yourself 1.5x the sell price you would get over at Nook’s Cranny.)

Just today, after selling a few thousand turnips, Kyungsoo had become a bellionnaire. He’s had his eye on the Royal Crown to complete his outfit but he’s never been able to afford the high 1.2 million bells price tag. His two best friends had also made several rounds to his island to rake in all them dollar, dollar bells. Other than his two housemates, Kyungsoo didn’t know anyone else who played the game.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city had gone into lockdown at around the same time as Animal Crossing’s release. Though unplanned, the game’s sales had been boosted tremendously with people having far too much time on their hands and nowhere to go—Animal Crossing had come at the right time. Even if people couldn’t visit their friends or family in the real world, they could always fly over to each others’ islands and spend time together in the game (and nag them to water all the flowers to increase the chance of breeding hybrids.)

It’s kinda funny. The only two people on his friends list are the same people he’s stuck with during this turbulent time. He didn’t even need a Nintendo Switch online subscription—the three could just jump between islands via local play. Fortunately, Chanyeol had been the one to fork out his real world dough to pay for a family subscription. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were the ones to piggyback onto his account and reap all the rewards.

This also means that Kyungsoo can allow certain visitors—perhaps those who slide into his Twitter DMs—to hop on over to his island so long as they’re both connected to the internet.

There were other perks to having a subscription, too. The exclusive AC leaf rug that was only available to Nintendo Switch online players was currently placed under his black imperial double bed. It didn’t exactly match his furniture, but he never pegged himself as an interior designer anyway.

Kyungsoo didn’t care for cataloguing all the items like his housemates are—he just liked the black furniture items. Chanyeol and Baekhyun are always on Discord trying to find the next host planning a cataloguing party. Kyungsoo finds the idea of allowing random strangers to visit his island unfathomable. His island is a dump and he’s far too ashamed to reveal its godawful state to anyone other than his housemates.

It doesn’t ease Kyungsoo’s reservations when Chanyeol would continuously call him out whenever he flew over and peeped all the tree branches and wood scattered around the island “How have you managed to clock 200 hours on the game and it’s _still_ only rated as a 3 stars island? Why don’t you knock some of your cliffs down?” he’d ask.

“Terraforming pisses me off,” Kyungsoo would always reply.

It’s true. Kyungsoo feels like whoever designed the terraforming feature on the game should be fired. The same button to destroy _and_ build? It’s stupid is what it is. It would always infuriate Kyungsoo whenever he tried modifying his island. Whenever he wanted to build a cliff, he would wind up knocking down areas he wanted to leave as is. And the same went for altering his rivers. He’s already thrown his joycon at the wall out of frustration after spending ten whole minutes trying to straighten out his river only for it to look even wonkier than before he’d started working on it.

“Fuck them island ~aesthetics~ and those five star islands,” Kyungsoo grumbled under his breath. He’s pretty much playing for the stamps, anyway. And trying to find his dreamie villagers. Kyungsoo has his eye on Audie, the new wolf addition to the game. He’s already recruited eight wolves to his island—now he just needs Audie to complete his list of favourite villagers. He would’ve gone for an all wolf island but Kyungsoo already has his heart set on one of the other new villagers introduced for the time time: Raymond.

Kyungsoo is sitting on 280k Nook Miles—that’s 140 Nook Mile tickets—and plans to spend an entire day (sometime after exams) island hopping in hopes of finding the last wolf. Kyungsoo’s pretty sure Audie will appear before he runs out of tickets. What are the chances he’ll need to use them all? Needless to say, if he were to encounter Raymond first—however unlikely—Kyungsoo would not hesitate to invite the smug heterochromic cat to move onto his island immediately.

“So... Are you going to open your gates for him, or not?” Baekhyun asks, Kyungsoo’s Switch console is in his hands with the screen turned on and loading (which means that Kyungsoo can make dinner, eat it, and still have time to spare before it finishes loading and is ready to play.)

Kyungsoo takes control of the game and runs around his island, picking up all the items surrounding the rocks that he’d banged with his spade earlier. In his haste, he accidentally dashes through his flowers. “Fuck!” he curses out loud when all that’s left are the flower buds.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol had even watered them earlier, and now they wouldn’t be able to breed or clone. His housemates' time and efforts had all been for naught.

But he doesn’t have time to mourn the death of his flower garden. He still needs to pick up all the fossils he’s dumped outside of the museum because he’s too lazy to ask Blathers to assess them. He’s not scared of being robbed—people helping themselves to the material he’s littered all over the place—Kyungsoo just wants his island to look somewhat presentable for any guests that visit him. And by guests, Kyungsoo is referring to a singular guest by the name of Kim Jongin.

When he’s satisfied his beach is free from tin cans, boots and tyres that he leaves scattered about while on a fishing run, Kyungsoo picks up his phone (actual, not his Nook one) and sends a message back to Jongin.

“What did you say?” Baekhyun asks.

“I just asked him if he’s ready to fly over because I’m about to open my gate and give him the Dodo code.” Kyungsoo tells him.

Baekhyun frowns. “You should’ve asked him for his friend code, instead! Have I taught you nothing, Doh Kyungsoo?” He clicks his tongue and snatches the phone from Kyungsoo. He reopens the tab before handing it back. “Oh, guess I didn’t have to—here.”

Kyungsoo takes back the phone and reads Jongin’s latest message. “Here’s my friend code—you should add me.”

Baekhyun jumps into Chanyeol’s arms and they jump up and down, screaming in glee. “Our boy’s all grown up!”

“Calm down, guys. I’m just adding him as a friend on the game. He’s just using me to sell his turnips, it’s not like he wants to be my friend in real life or anything.”

Kyungsoo isn’t expecting anything from the exchange. This is Kim Jongin they’re talking about, after all. Despite being a year younger than them, Jongin is no stranger to him. He and his best friend, Oh Sehun—another, and just as popular, junior—hangs out with some of the seniors Kyungsoo is acquainted with from time to time. Unlike his housemates, Kyungsoo isn’t a social butterfly. He’d much rather stay in and watch movies in bed. His friends, however, would rarely let that fly. Finding himself at the disadvantage of two against one, Kyungsoo would wind up being dragged to house parties all over campus.

Kyungsoo adds Jongin as a friend and messages him to let him know that his island gates are open for him to visit. He’s a little curious to check out Jongin’s avatar—what outfit has he ended up choosing to dress himself up in? Is his character based on himself or an OC? Not that Kyungsoo would be able to discern between the two—it’s not like he knows him well enough.

Technically, Kyungsoo has met Jongin several times before. But never long enough to regard him as anyone other than ‘someone he knows.’ They haven’t even had a proper conversation. The only information he’s learned firsthand from the boy himself is that Jongin is a junior and studying Architecture. Although Jongin’s handsome looks are the talk of the campus, Kyungsoo is pleasantly surprised when he perceives Jongin to be the opposite of conceited. (Kyungsoo wishes the same could be said for Chanyeol.) 

Kyungsoo—on the other hand—had offered very little about himself when they’d exchanged brief small talk at the last party he’d attended before the pandemic struck. Kyungsoo had told Jongin that he was about to graduate with a BA in Art History _if_ he passes his finals. Jongin had enquired about the course but Kyungsoo’s bonehead buddies required constant supervision and he excused himself to go check up on them.

“This is the perfect chance for you to get to know him,” Baekhyun says. “It’s not like you’re Mr. Conversation or Mr. Life of the Party whenever he’s around.”

“But he’s not exactly Mr. Nimble Fingers, either,” Chanyeol adds.

Baekhyun taps his index finger on his bottom lip. “You’re right. I legit have nightmares about those three dots whenever I’m waiting for Kyungsoo to reply back to a message. Then I think i’m being overly harsh, like maybe he’s typing back an essay or something but then it’s just like three words.”

Kyungsoo takes it back. Baekhyun is the worst best friend you could ever ask for.

“But for real though,” Baekhyun continues, “Make the most of it and seduce him with those ‘nips of yours.”

Chanyeol snorts. “I’d love to see that. Kyungsoo flirting? I think the turnips would do a better job of charming the pants off Kim Jongin!”

Kyungsoo grabs a box of tissues and dashes it at Chanyeol’s head who manages to dodge it. “Get out—you’re not welcome here, anymore.” He lunges at Chanyeol and forces him out of his room.

Chanyeol has one foot out the door when they hear a faint chime ringing followed by what sounds like shuffling. Kyungsoo knows all too well what it means—he has _dreams_ that feature the familiar sound effects.

“He’s coming,” Baekhyun announces. “Jongin is flying over your island now, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo gives Chanyeol a swift kick to the buttocks before rushing back to his Switch. They watch Jongin’s name appear on screen.

“Erigom,” Baekhyun reads Jongin's island name out loud. “That’s cute.”

Kyungsoo picks up the console and holds it close to his chest. “Okay, I think that’s enough from the two of you now. Bye bye!” He doesn’t give either of his friends the opportunity to protest. He slams the door shut behind them and locks it for good measure.

He jumps into bed and pulls the duvet over his body. He watches Jongin’s character exit the airport. Kyungsoo smiles, he isn’t expecting Jongin to be wearing the bear costume. For some reason, Kyungsoo thinks that it would suit him in real life, too.

The two characters wave to one enough—Jongin’s the first one to greet him. Kyungsoo presses the joy reaction and watches his character dance while a halo of flowers surround him.

“Cute island,” Jongin messages him in the in-game chat feature.

“Thanks,” Kyungsoo writes back. He’s a little embarrassed. Jongin would’ve seen a preview of his island as he was flying over and despite Jongin’s kind words, his island is nothing compared to Baekhyun’s candy-inspired village. He would even begrudgingly admit that Chanyeol’s million various instruments placed all over his island looks pretty cool.

Kyungsoo mind wanders, trying to imagine Jongin’s Erigom island when he catches the other character dashing off towards Nook’s Cranny. Kyungsoo decides to stay and wait outside the airport.

“Can I buy the toilet?” pops on the screen. Jongin must be sending it from inside the shop.

Kyungsoo laughs as he recalls the squat toilet available for purchase today. “Sure,” he replies.

“Thanks! ^^” 

Kyungsoo waits patiently for Jongin to return. He’s a little sad that there’s a character limit on each message they can send in the game. Not to mention, it takes him forever to compose one. Like his two friends had mentioned earlier, it already takes Kyungsoo far too long to send a text on the phone or laptop—using a Switch is 100% out of the question.

Would it be weird if he sent a DM to Jongin later? Too over-friendly? What would he even say?

“Water flowers??” Jongin messages again.

“Pls?” Kyungsoo types as fast as he can.

“Will do!”

Kyungsoo’s still smiling as if he’s got a hanger stuck in his mouth. Jongin’s taking his sweet time, Kyungsoo notes. He doesn’t have that many flowers to water, he should be done by now. That is unless Jongin didn’t have a watering can and had to grab one from the shop. But Kyungsoo had provided watering cans for that very reason. Perhaps he’s checking out the clothes in the Able Sisters’ Shop, or… heaven forbid… what if Jongin is exploring the rest of Kyungsoo’s island?

Kyungsoo is in two minds to head towards the flower garden when he spots Jongin’s character sprinting towards him. He stops besides Kyungsoo’s character and drops two bags of bells and a Nook Mile ticket.

“Thanks again!!!” Jongin writes.

Kyungsoo hadn’t even asked for a tip or for any kind of entrance fee. It’s hardly surprising that Jongin has manners considering the way he usually conducts himself. Kyungsoo applauds Jongin’s parents on a job well done for raising their child well.

“No probs!” Kyungsoo types back.

“I’m going now—bye!” And with those words, Jongin’s character heads into the airport.

Kyungsoo stands by, waiting for Jongin to leave before he enters and asks Orville, the dodo receptionist, to close the gate. He catches another message just before Jongin departs and his game saves. “Check bulletin board!” 

When he’s able to control his character again, Kyungsoo opens up the chat log on his Nook phone to read over the messages he’s just exchanged with Jongin. He’s about to glance over them a second time when he hears a familiar bell ringing and a green banner scrolling across the screen asking him to close the window.

“Has Jongin forgotten something?” Kyungsoo asks himself out loud. Or perhaps he wanted to make another round selling more turnips. He feels his heart start to race while he waits for the flight information to appear. He’s tempted to power off his Switch when he reads the name on the screen. His heart sinks faster than an anchor dropped into the water.

“Chanyeol!” Kyungsoo screams at the top of his lungs.

As soon as Chanyeol has arrived onto his island, the chime rings off again. There’s no surprise behind the identity of the new visitor. Kyungsoo swings his net at Chanyeol’s character before turning it on Baekhyun. He keeps swatting the two of them relentlessly. It’s pointless, it has no effect in the game, but Kyungsoo still draws satisfaction from it.

A message from Chanyeol appears on screen, “Soo wants to have your babies!”

Kyungsoo hits the minus button and ends the session, effectively booting his friends off his island. Now alone, he heads towards the plaza. Kyungsoo checks out the bulletin board and sees a new post from Jongin. Judging from the small thumbnail, it’s a drawing of… something. He hits A to check it out in more detail. It’s a little doodle of Kyungsoo surrounded by books on the floor and Jongin’s character (still in his bear costume) in the background. He’s standing behind some shrubs holding a turnip in one of his hands with a speech bubble above his head that says, “Good luck on your finals!”

Kyungsoo immediately screen captures the post and saves it to his console photo album. He takes another look at the drawing and notices a few other details he’d missed upon first glance. There’s a black star on the ground—probably a buried fossil. There’s also a yellow butterfly—shouldn’t all BUTTERflies be yellow?—fluttering by the ~~peach~~ pink fruit tree.

Kyungsoo is impressed by Jongin’s artistic skills. With only four colours—black, blue, pink and yellow—Jongin has still managed to create a masterpiece. It’s no wonder that he took a while while he was supposedly watering the flowers.

He saves and exits the game. That’s enough for today. He can hear the call of his textbooks. He’s been procrastinating far too much already. Dusk is upon him and he’s yet to go over his notes. He begrudgingly opens the first textbook of the day and forces himself to tackle at least two modules before allowing himself a study break.

Preoccupied with exam revision and the ongoing debate on the right way to make pasta with Baekhyun and Chaneyeol at dinner time, all thoughts of Jongin are cast aside.

That is, until the next morning.

Kyungsoo wakes up to several hundred new notifications from Twitter.

“What the hell is going on?” are his first words of the day.

If Chanyeol or Baekhyun is pranking with spam messages, he’s going to confiscate their phones. And by confiscate, Kyungsoo means putting them into the box hidden in the back of Baekhyun’s closet. His friends are under the impression that Kyungsoo doesn’t know it exists but he does. Oh, how he wished he hadn’t stumbled across it that one time Baekhyun had asked him to retrieve something but alas... He was unable to wipe the memory from his brain. But he’s been waiting patiently for the perfect opportunity to reveal he’s fully aware of its existence.

Kyungsoo opens the app and scrolls through his notifications. He has several hundred people following him now. Say what? Kyungsoo checks out all of the accounts, going through each of them one by one. He’s ready to block them all if they’re clearly bots but is surprised—downright flabbergasted—to discover that they’re all very real people who attend his university. There are even some people he recognises—he’s seen them around the party circuit—but the majority of them are strangers to him.

It doesn’t take long for Kyungsoo to pinpoint the cause of his Twitter blowing up. There’s a lot of retweets and likes on a tweet he’s been tagged in. He’s lost count of all the new mentions but he really can’t be arsed to read just yet. He hasn’t even had breakfast yet. He’ll most likely peruse through them while he eats his cereal. Kyungsoo continues down the list until he reaches the bottom of his new notifications.

It all makes sense now.

With his phone in his hand, Kyungsoo bursts into the front room and accidentally walks in on his two friends sucking face on the sofa.

“C’mon, guys. What did we say? You guys literally have not one, but two rooms you could use—literally a few feet away,” Kyungsoo says with a scrunched up expression on his face.

Kyungsoo really hopes that they’ve brushed their teeth. Chanyeol has the worst case of morning breath. He almost gags when he recalls the one time he’d made the mistake of standing far too close to his friend before he’d scrubbed out his tongue. Kyungsoo’s learned his lesson to steer clear until Chanyeol’s at least had breakfast.

“Hey, what’s up, bro?” Baekhyun asks as he takes a break for air.

Kyungsoo holds out his phone for his friends to see. “Jongin is following me.”

“And did you follow back?” Baekhyun asks.

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. “Should I?”

“Complete the mutual, dude. Don’t leave the guy hanging like that,” Chanyeol chimes in.

Baekhyun leans in for a better look at Kyungsoo’s phone. “Wait. Hold up. Back the truck up and shut the front door. How many people are following you now?!”

“He tweeted a photo of him selling his turnips at my shop and tagged me in it,” Kyungsoo explains.

“Selling nips at my @kyungsoo112’s shop. Thanks again,” Baekhyun reads the tweet out loud. “Oh, wow.”

“Damn, Kyungsoo. I don’t know how you managed it but good job!” Chanyeol says.

Kyungsoo hadn’t expected Jongin to tweet anything about it let alone including his handle for the world and his thousands upon thousands of followers to see. There’s quite a few people asking him for a Dodo code but most of those tweets have been buried under the overwhelming questions regarding Kyungsoo’s identity and his—non-existent—relationship with Jongin.

Most of Kyungsoo’s new mentions are pretty much identical. There’s the same handful of people wanting to sell their turnips but the number of people demanding Kyungsoo explain himself to them—complete strangers—is frightening. It’s almost as if he’s embroiled in some kind of idol dating scandal. And Jongin isn’t even a celebrity! And he sure as hell isn’t—no one even knew his name before that tweet was sent out.

“So, should I follow him back for you?” Baekhyun asks.

Kyungsoo snatches the phone out of his friend’s hand and visits Jongin’s profile. His finger hovers over the ‘Follow’ button when he notices the large number on the screen. “He has over 12k followers.” Kyungsoo laughs and shakes his head.

Kyungsoo has lived all his life under the radar. It’s how he prefers it. He doesn’t want his interactions observed and scrutinised by others—people he doesn’t know… or know _him_. He’s planning to ask Jongin to delete the tweet but doesn’t know how to approach it. He doesn’t want Jongin to feel bad or imply he's done anything wrong. That it’s just a simple case of Kyungsoo wanting to be low-key and would very much like it to stay that way.

It takes a whole hour and a million drafts before Kyungsoo is ready to send a DM to Jongin. He hopes he doesn’t sound too pushy or demanding. He even makes sure to add a ‘lol’ at the end in hopes of sounding casual.

Jongin replies back immediately with a profuse apology. He tells Kyungsoo he’ll delete the tweet right away and didn’t realise it would blow up as much as it had. He also adds that he hadn’t meant to type ‘my’ before Kyungsoo’s handle. He explains that he’d almost made the mistake by tweeting out ‘my shop’ out of habit. He’d caught it before hitting send but then somehow managed to miss the removal of ‘my’ when deleting the word, ‘shop.’ 

Fascinating how such a little word can hold such a large connotation behind it, and had caused the masses to misconstrue Jongin’s tweet.

Kyungsoo assures Jongin that it’s not that big of a deal (he’s gotta ride those breezy waves.) He does, however, softblock all his new followers—with the exception of one—and sets his account on private. Once his profile is locked, he adds another person to his following list.

Kyungsoo hears his phone ping from the bedroom. He would ask one of his housemates to retrieve it for him but he’s aware that they’ve memorised his password. He’s not a fool—they’ll immediately launch a snooping expedition. Over the course of the last couple of days, their nosiness has been amplified and Baekhyun won’t stop asking him questions about ‘his progress.’

“What progress? There’s nothing to report.” Kyungsoo has already grown tired of repeating himself but his best friend shows complete resilience and no signs of conceding. They simply refuse to accept his answer.

Not wanting to leave his phone unattended for too long, Kyungsoo turns off the faucet and removes the rubber gloves from his hands. The dishes can wait. Or rather, he’ll leave it for someone else to wash. It doesn’t matter if it takes them a day, or too—no, he’ll finish doing them after he checks his phone.

Kyungsoo’s lips curve into a smile the second he sees the name that appears on his screen. It’s a text from Jongin, “Ready to AC?”

After Kyungsoo had confessed he was terrible at checking his Twitter account, Jongin had asked for Kyungsoo’s number—no vague hints or beating around the bush from the guy. Kyungsoo admires Jongin’s ‘go get it’ attitude and despite being the older one—Kyungsoo feels slightly intimidated by the other.

That is until their first Zoom call when Kyungsoo had spotted all the soft fuzzy toys sitting on Jongin’s bed. Jongin’s face lights up the second he mentions it.

“Oh, they’re my cuddly friends,” Jongin tells him. “You wanna meet them?”

The next half hour is spent listening to Jongin introducing his plushes one by one, each having a name and their own distinct personalities. Not that Kyungsoo had minded, it was endearing to see. No toxic masculinity in sight.

They spend far too much time video calling on what Jongin would refer to as their ‘Animal Crossing dates.’ Kyungsoo would make it a point to always call them their ‘hangout sessions’. He has no illusions about the kind of relationship they have. 

Sure, there’s no denying that Kyungsoo finds Jongin attractive. Anyone with eyes would think the same. There’s so much more to Jongin than his God-tier looks. Jongin is smart—Kyungsoo is floored when he discovers that Jongin is the top student on his course. He’s also incredibly creative. Kyungsoo has caught himself boasting about Jongin’s AC island being featured in a five-star island compilation on YouTube to Baekhyun and Chanyeol as if it were his own achievement.

Animal Crossing ‘dates’ or not, Kyungsoo and Jongin are just strictly platonic.

Or so Kyungsoo would lead everyone to believe. He’d only ever admit it to himself but… he is developing the smallest, inciest, winciest feelings for his AC buddy.

(Okay, it’s a big fat raging crush.)

The night before Kyungsoo is supposed to graduate—all graduating students are to now have a remote video conference ceremony to try to reduce potential exposure to the virus—he receives a call from Jongin.

“Do you have an empty plot?” Jongin asks. He sounds out of breath.

Post workout, perhaps? Which would mean he’s all hot and sweaty, and in need of a shower. A steamy shower with water dripping down his toned… and naked—let’s nip the thirst thoughts in the bud, shall we?

“No, but I can still buy a plot of land from Tom Nook,” Kyungsoo tells him.

He’s been saving it for Chanyeol’s Audie. The jammy fucker woke up one morning with the wolf inside of his campsite. Kyungsoo had made the mistake of telling Chanyeol to let him know if she were ever in boxes and leaving the island. He’d drop everything to fly over and ask her to move onto his island. Chanyeol had other plans. The fucker actually had the nerve to demand 100m bells. Kyungsoo vindictively stole all of his blue roses the next time he flew over. Kyungsoo then promptly removed his housemate from his friends list.

“Do it, then fly over to my island. I’ll DM you a Dodo code.” There’s a light chuckle. “Oh, and don’t forget to check your mail before you come.”

“Okay,” Kyungsoo replies. He reaches for his Switch and turns the power on. “Do you want to video call or...?” It’s the first time Kyungsoo is the one to propose it—it’s usually always Jongin making the request. He hopes Jongin hadn’t heard or noticed the slight faltering of his voice when he’d asked.

“Sure!” Jongin answers.

Kyungsoo breathes a quiet sigh of relief. It doesn’t sound like Jongin felt obliged to, either. His bravery has paid off. “I’ll call you in like five minutes?”

“Sounds good to me!”

As soon as the call ends, Kyungsoo dashes to this bathroom mirror to make sure he looks presentable. No hairs sticking out of his nostrils—check. Nothing in his teeth—check. He runs a hand through his hair but there’s not much he can do with it. It’s grown out a lot longer than he’s used to. Kyungsoo’s eyes surveys the bathroom counter. He’s not about to use one of Chanyeol’s and incur a ten minute rant about how expensive and precious his ‘ _exported_ ’ hair styling products are (dude doesn’t even know he actually means to say ‘imported.’) Kyungsoo will just have to make do with some good old fashioned water straight from the tap.

Kyungsoo sits down, leaning back on his chair so as to not look like he’s got a hunchback. His posture is terrible which leads to uncomfortable back pain. He’s so not looking forward to what old age has in store for him. But that’s an issue for future him.

Kyungsoo starts the video call, tilting his head awkwardly to find his most flattering angle.

“Hey!” Jongin greets him with a wide grin.

Kyungsoo smiles back and waves to the camera. “Just gimme a sec and I’ll fly over. How come you’re using a Dodo code?”

There’s a brief look of panic in Jongin’s expression. It’s fleeting but it doesn’t escape Kyungsoo’s attention.

“Just…” Jongin trails off. He pretends to zip his mouth shut and presses his lips together.

“Cute,” Kyungsoo almost blurts out.

He checks his mailbox to find a present from Jongin—it’s a graduation gown. He changes into it before running over to the Resident Services building to buy some land from Tom Nook. He pays the small fee 10k fees in exchange for some Nook Miles when someone moves in. He finds an empty spot on his island and builds the housing kit and heads to the airport. He makes sure he has some of his stolen loot of blue roses in his inventory to give to Jongin. There’s no way either of them have the patience to try to breed one on their own. Not with its measly 1.6% chance spawn rate—ain’t nobody got time for that.

“Gates open,” Jongin says.

“On my way.”

He doesn’t listen to the captain speaking and doesn’t catch the announcement that they’re almost to Erigom island. He doesn’t prepare for landing, nor returns his seat to an upright position, making sure his seatbelt is securely fastened. He couldn’t tell you that the local time is 21:13, that they’ve got clear skies and the temperature is...comfortable. The plane is about to make a water landing, but that’s OK because it’s a seaplane.

Kyungsoo misses all of it because he’s too busy sneaking glances at Jongin.

“Follow me,” Jongin tells him as soon as Kyungsoo regains control of his character. Jongin runs ahead, leading him to the home of one of his villagers.

“Crafting something?” Kyungsoo asks.

Jongin doesn’t reply and so Kyungsoo enters wondering what DIY recipe card he’ll be receiving. Knowing his luck, it’s going to be one he’s learned already. It’ll be another one for the free loot pile he’s got going on outside of his airport. Isabelle keeps telling him that the island is too cluttered and that he should sell unwanted stuff at Nook’s Cranny but he feels bad selling his dupe recipe cards and fossils. What if someone needs them?

When the screen loads up, Kyungsoo’s jaw hits the floor. He’s absolutely gobsmacked to find Raymond in boxes.

“Surprise!” Jongin exclaims and claps his hands.

“I... I don’t get it,” Kyungsoo says.

“Raymond’s your dreamie, isn’t he? Well, now… he’s yours! Go ask him to move to your island.”

Kyungsoo is at a loss for words. How does Jongin know that Raymond is his favourite villager?

“I know it’s a little early,” Jongin continues, “But I don’t know how busy you’re going to be tomorrow with all the graduation stuff so I wanted to give you your gift a day early. Congratulations on graduating, Kyungsoo!”

“T-thank you?” Kyungsoo is fumbling over his words.

He still can’t believe it’s actually Raymond. The same Raymond people are charging 1000 Nook Mile tickets just to _meet_. And if one Nook Mile ticket costs 2,000 Nook Miles—that’s 2 million points! It’s taken Kyungsoo 300 hours of gameplay to earn almost 300k. There’s no way he would’ve been able to raise enough points just to visit a Raymond, let alone have him as a resident on his island.

Kyungsoo approaches the smug kitty to speak to him. After a quick dialogue exchange—it’s official. Raymond is going to be a Dandanie resident. Kyungsoo tells Jongin he’s going to fly back home right away in case it disconnects or glitches out. He knows he could just reload and start over but he doesn’t want to chance something going wrong. On his way out, Kyungsoo ensures he doesn’t forget to leave the blue roses outside of Jongin’s house. He makes the long route down the brick paths to the airport. He’s not going to risk using the shortcut, either.

The game is saved and Kyungsoo exhales loudly.

“You good?” Jongin asks.

Kyungsoo puts down the console and looks at Jongin on his phone. There’s a wide grin on his face and usually that would make him feel self-conscious but Kyungsoo couldn’t care less. The only thing on his mind is Jongin and his kind gesture. “How can I ever thank you?” he asks, “This is, like, the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

Jongin beams at him. “Can I… I want to confess something.”

Kyungsoo can feel his heart pounding in his chest. Jongin’s expression has turned serious. What is he going to say? Is it something bad? Does Kyungsoo need to brace himself for some terrible news? Does Jongin want Raymond back? Or worse… Is Jongin about to tell him they can’t hang out like they have been because he’s started seeing someone?

Kyungsoo clears his throat. “Sure, go ahead.” He holds his breath and is afraid his facial expressions will betray him. Even if Jongin tells him he’s in a relationship now, Kyungsoo has to try his best to not look disappointed. “You need to keep smiling,” he tells himself silently.

“I… uh…” Jongin rubs the back of his neck with his hand. He avoids looking into the camera and instead laughs nervously.

Kyungsoo is going to pass out if Jongin doesn’t hurry up and spit it out.

“I actually didn’t even have any turnips to sell that day I visited your island for the first time,” Jongin says.

Kyungsoo doesn’t understand. “What do you mean? So did you just visit my island without selling any?”

“I mean, I time travelled back in time to buy some and then used it as an excuse to message you,” Jongin reveals.

“But why?” Kyungsoo is still confused.

Jongin laughs again. He finally looks into the camera and smiles at him. “Because I like you?”

“But why?” Kyungsoo asks again.

“Way to put me on the spot.” Jongin chuckles again.

“Sorry,” Kyungsoo responds. He’s in a deeper state of shock than when he saw Raymond in boxes. Jongin… _likes_ him? Like, like _likes_ him? In the same way Kyungsoo like _likes_ him?

“It’s hard to explain but like, I saw you around—at house parties and stuff. And you kinda stood out from the crowd because you looked so… uninterested.”

“Well, that’s a fair comment.”

“But then I saw you one night with your friends and you were laughing about something. Your whole face lit up and there was just something about you that caught my eye. And I thought to myself, I want to make him smile like that… at me.” As soon as Jongin finishes speaking, he grabs his favourite stuffed animal—a bear his father had bought the day he was born—from his bed and holds it in front of his face.

Kyungsoo’s kinda glad Jongin is hiding his face from the camera. That way, he doesn’t have to conceal his own face that’s turned a bright shade of red. Kyungsoo fans his face, but it’s hopeless. His entire body has started to perspire—thank God he’s wearing black. 

They exchange awkward laughs before silence graces them with its presence.

Jongin is the first to speak, or rather, he uses the teddy bear as a conduit of communication. “So… Can I interest you in a coffee date sometime?” he asks, “On AC, of course.”

Still unable to leave the apartment due to ongoing pandemic restrictions, Kyungsoo and Jongin have their first official— _virtual_ —date (don’t judge them, okay. Desperate times call for desperate measures.) There’s a meteor shower happening on Kyungsoo’s island and so he invites Jongin over to wish upon the shooting stars. He needs Jongin to make a wish on at least 100 of them for him to receive 40 star fragments the following day.

“What did you wish for?” Jongin asks.

“Large star frags,” Kyungsoo replies. He still needs them to craft the crescent moon chair. “You?”

“Would it be too cheesy to say that my wish has already come true?”

Kyungsoo laughs. “Yeah, but that’s okay. I’ll still like you.”

“Well, maybe I should wish for all of this to be over so I can take you out on a _real_ date,” Jongin replies.

“Hey, I’m the one about to start his first job as a graduate. I should be the one taking _you_ out,” Kyungsoo tells him.

“No complaints here.”

They laugh and spend the rest of the night swatting each other with their nets as the night sky lights up with shooting stars.

As Sehun enters the living room, he spots the television is still on but the room is vacant. He recognises the little squirrel walking past the screen.

“When is he going to get bored of Animal Crossing?” Sehun asks the room as if it could respond. He heads towards Jongin’s room to ask if he’s still playing or if he could exit the game.

Sehun opens the door and walks in to see his best friend with his trousers bunched up around his ankles and a hand inside of his boxers.

Jongin pulls his duvet from his bed to cover his nether regions. “Don’t you know how to knock?” he exclaims.

“How was I supposed to know you were jerking off?” Sehun asks. He covers his eyes with his hand and starts to back away.

“I’m not! I’m just talking to Kyungsoo! Get out, Sehun!”

The door slams right in his face and Sehun flips off his best friend behind the wooden panel that separates them. “Lock your door next time!” he shouts and kicks the door for good measure.

Sehun heads back to the front room and takes a seat on the sofa. He spots the joycon on the table and picks it up. He’s never wanted to join the Animal Crossing cult before but he’s been tempted as of late. He’s been swayed by the thought ever since Jongin had managed to successfully woo his long-time crush. It had been a year in the making and Sehun’s glad he doesn’t have to hear all about ‘That Cute Senior’ anymore.

Deep down, he is happy for his best friend. After countless sessions of encouragement from Sehun, Jongin had finally plucked up the courage to ask Kyungsoo out before graduation arrived. Jongin had cut it pretty close but it ended well—the two have been happily dating for the past month. They’ve yet to hang out in person, though.

This hasn’t stopped Sehun from laying down some ground rules. He gets Jongin’s agreement in writing—that once the lockdown is finally lifted—Jongin will abide by the terms set by him.

Nothing is to happen in any communal rooms—including the bathroom—and Sehun is to be given notice one day in advance should Kyungsoo ever spend the night. Their home has very thin walls and his headphones would not suffice—he’d need to seek alternative shelter.

Jongin had accepted the conditions without argument.

Moving the analogue stick, Sehun chases after a butterfly. “Maybe I should start playing this for real.

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, I love ACNH a lot, okay?
> 
> (you can find me on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/soodyonim).)


End file.
